


The Basics

by GertieCraign



Series: Shade-Tree Mechanics [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: And Is Still Convinced He's Hiding It, Canon Compliant, Cas May or May Not Understand That He's Got It Bad for Dean, Cas Will Hang Out with Dean No Matter What He's Doing, Cas lives, Cold Beverages, Dean Allows Nothing to Show, Ellipsis Abuse, For the most part, Gen, Hot Summer Day, Idiots in Love, Swearing, This Is My Happy Place So Cas Has His Wings and Full Power, except when he does, working on the impala
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 21:42:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11022171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GertieCraign/pseuds/GertieCraign
Summary: It's the height of summer. Dean is working on the Impala under the shade of a tree.Cas is keeping him company.This starts out being just a little slice of their lives, but it eventually leads to them talking about what happened with Gadreel.





	The Basics

 

 

It was a beautiful day, but it was hot. Even in the shade there was little relief, and the humidity had been steadily increasing all morning. By noon, a cooler full of water, lemonade and beer became the perfect gift to bring to Dean Winchester, as he worked under the hood of his Baby in the shade of a hundred year old oak tree.

Dean could easily have worked on her in the relative comfort of the Bunker’s garage, but...as he’d explained to Castiel, when the angel had asked, _‘Sometimes you just gotta get outside. Get sweaty and greasy and gritty. Makes ya feel like you’re doin’ somethin’ real. Like you’re alive. You can't just stay inside all the time. You’ll get weird. Plus, on a day like this, the ‘magic smoke’ that lives inside the cylinders won't try to escape, so no matter how bad you screw up, you’re guaranteed to not blow a head gasket or throw a rod. That’s a fact.’_

Cas had nodded dutifully. He knew it was bullshit. He'd have been able to detect the presence of spellwork within the vehicle. But he’d learned, in their nearly decade-long friendship, that when it came to his descriptions of his Baby, it was best to simply agree with Dean and leave it at that. Cas might still grin knowingly, but he’d stopped openly questioning the outrageous fantasies or blatant lies. It was a small price to pay for their mutual happiness. In fact, the angel had come to find it all rather endearing.

Cas appeared several feet away from his friend, holding the newly stocked green cooler like a splendid offering.

Dean saw him out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey...there you are,” he said, barely letting his gaze flicker away from his task. “Where’d you go?”

“You looked thirsty,” Cas said. He made an effort to keep his voice flat, hoping it would counterbalance the annoying, involuntary smile he couldn’t seem to shake. He was finding it difficult to not be pleased that he’d thought to provide this gift.  Noticing his own physical needs and frailties was something he’d learned to do during his time living as a human. But he still found it difficult to remember to look for the subtle signs and cues coming from his human friends. In this case, though, it had been obvious. Dean had reached for the same empty water bottle twice in as little as five minutes, seeming to have forgotten each time that he’d already finished it. That would have been enough of a clue that Dean needed to replenish his lost body fluids, but Cas had already noted the copious amount of perspiration soaking through the man’s t-shirt. Without a word, he’d reached through the Impala’s open window, popped the trunk, and retrieved the old, green cooler. A moment later, he was at the bunker entrance, keying his way inside, and flying to the kitchen.

Sam had helped him fill the cooler. There’d been enough ice in the freezer’s reservoir to supply most of the needed coolant, after the multiple bottles had been added, but Sam had insisted on digging into the back of the freezer and pulling out each of the auxiliary ice trays. He’d emptied them, one by one, into the cooler.

Cas had been grateful for his help. He had. Honest. It was just that Sam was taking entirely too long to add small cubes of ice, a dozen at a time, to a cooler that was desperately needed elsewhere. Sam hadn’t understood that his rapidly dehydrating brother needed these refreshments _right now!_ Dean had already sweat through his snug t-shirt and that pair of jeans that nicely accentuated the shape of his thighs when he walked. He needed fluids!

Cas had done his best to grit his teeth, and not let his perfectly reasonable and completely justifiable sense of urgency make him say or do something rude. He didn’t want to hurt Sam’s feelings, after all. Sam was a good friend - a wonderful person - who, for some reason, was being intolerably _slow._ Cas hadn’t fully finished saying the last syllable in his _‘thank you'_ , before grabbing the cooler and making a mad-flying-dash for the bunker’s front door.

“Yeah! Awesome, uh...,” Dean said. “Just a sec.” He tilted his head, listening to the engine. The fan was blowing a steady stream of hot sticky air all around Dean’s upper body, causing the t-shirt to ripple just slightly. It was too snug and wet to properly billow. His short hair responded with it’s own frenetic thrashing.

Dean reached forward and grabbed the throttle arm, revving the engine and letting it quiet down...still listening. He repeated this twice more. He sighed, furrowed his brow for a moment, then let go of the throttle.

“Cas,” he said over the sound of the engine. He motioned toward the cab of the car. “Shut her off.”

Cas looked where he was pointing and he also furrowed his brow. He set the cooler down and made a vague motion at the vehicle. The engine immediately stalled.

Dean saw Cas still standing exactly where he had been and realized those instructions hadn’t been specific enough. He sighed again. _‘At least I’m not gonna miss out on_ this _part of raisin’ kids. Awesome.’_ Grabbing a clean rag, he strolled around to the driver’s side and opened the door. He stood behind it, inviting Cas to sit.

“Hop in,” Dean said. Cas squinted at him, then somewhat gingerly walked over and scooted himself onto the well worn leather. “Feet, too,” Dean coaxed. When Cas was all the way in, Dean closed the door and rested his forearms on the window gap. He opened his mouth to speak, but then reached across Cas to turn the radio down to very low. He again rested his arms on the door. “Ok...so, when I ask you to shut her off, I mean turn her off at the ignition.” Cas immediately reached for the keys hanging from the dash. “Wait…not yet. Take a look at the dash. See all those lights?” Cas nodded. “Those are all the systems that are still active and drawing current off the battery. That can drain it kinda quick. Not as quick as leavin’ the headlights on, but you don’t wanna leave it like this. And it’s not exactly awesome to hit the electrical system with some kinda angelic EMP or whatever. Probably not a huge deal. I sometimes kill the engine at the distributor or the choke when i’m workin’ on her, but...just not as a practice.”

Cas nodded. He surveyed the lights on the dash, taking in all the ones he’d never noticed being lit before. His eyes stopped on the oil light.

“It says there’s not enough oil,” Cas said. He squinted at Dean. “You said you should never let it run low on oil. If the oil light comes on, stop the engine immediately. Why were you running the engine without oil?”

Dean raised his eyebrows. He squinted back at Cas and pursed his lips. “See...I’m gonna let that slide, ‘cause I’m a nice guy.” Cas just stared back at him, completely oblivious to the chiding. Dean shook his head. “Ok...this is why it can drain the power off the battery. Each one of these lights is connected to a gauge. The oil gauge checks the pressure of the oil inside the motor when it’s running. Right now, since the ignition switch is still turned all the way on, that gauge thinks the engine is still goin’. So it figures the oil pressure should be nice and solid. But the engine’s off, so the oil pressure has dropped to zero and that light is saying, ‘the oil pressure is way too low. Pull over right now and check.’

“Why wouldn’t that light be on whenever the engine isn’t running, then? In both of the vehicles I’ve driven, when I removed the key...oh!” Cas said, answering his own question. “If the key is turned to the, um…’on’ position, then the gauge is being monitored”

“Exactly.” Dean grinned and looked over at the angel. “We’ll make a mechanic outta ya yet.” He bumped Cas’s shoulder with his elbow, then looked back at the dash.

Cas smiled. He didn’t really understand why Dean would be so happy about his coming to understand the workings of a small gauge located somewhere inside that loud engine, but he was. And that was a good thing. Dean deserved to be happy. And, also, he smelled really nice. A little breeze had blown through the window and Cas had noticed that even very sweaty and grimy, Dean still smelled like...Dean. It was a good smell. He liked it quite a bit. He still questioned why his friend would think it a good idea for people to smell like food. That hadn’t made much sense, even at the time. But Dean didn’t smell like food...and Cas was happy about that, because there was no food ever invented that could possibly top the way Dean smelled.

“Ok...so...turn the key, like you’re gonna shut the car off. Leave the key in the ignition.”

Cas obeyed.

“Now, turn the key clockwise, but just one click.” Dean saw Cas hesitate and looked over at him. “Just turn it slow, you’ll feel it.” Cas turned the key and the dash once again lit, but there weren’t as many lights and the starter didn’t engage. “This is the setting you wanna use to check the gas gauge without turning the car on. Or check the other gauges, like temperature. Or if the car won’t start, but all these lights come on and the radio and stuff...you know the battery is fine. Something else is wrong. So, it’s kinda the ‘system check’ setting. Now...there’s one more. Turn it to ‘off’...and then keep turning it counterclockwise one more click.”

“I didn’t realize it went the other direction. Is that with all vehicles?”

“Most of ‘em. Not all.” Dean nodded. “This setting turns the electrical system on, but it’s not gonna check all the gauges and stuff. It just lets you turn on what you want. Like today, when I don’t have her running, I switch back to this so I can listen to the radio.”

“And that won’t drain the power?”

“Yeah, but a radio takes hardly anything. You could have that on all day and it’d be fine. I just don’t leave the amp on the whole time. Or the tape deck. I wouldn’t wanna run that the whole day. Pretty much as long as it’s not creating heat and it doesn’t have a motor, you can run it for a good long while and your battery’ll still be fine.”

Dean glanced back over at Cas. He was smiling. Dean snorted.

“This is helpful information,” Cas said. “Thank you.”

“Ah...this is just the little shit.”

“I had to learn to operate a vehicle rather quickly. I...missed out on learning most of the, um...little shit. I have the feeling there’s quite a bit more I don’t know.”

“Nah...you got what you need, Cas. That’s what’s important. You’ll pick up the rest as you go.” Dean straightened back up and took a step away, so Cas could open the door. But Cas didn’t move. He just turned and smiled through the open window at his friend. Dean grinned back. Then he nodded and pursed his lips. “You look pretty good behind her wheel.”

Cas’s grin got much bigger. He tentatively let one hand graze the top of the steering wheel, but then pulled it back down.

“One ‘a these days, we’re gonna find you a car that fits ya. I’ve been tryin’ to figure out what that’d be, but...ya know...maybe you need some fifty-year-old American muscle, too. At least I’d be good at fixin’ it for ya.”

Dean looked at him, obviously thinking. Cas met his gaze and another staring contest commenced. Eventually, Dean’s face fell and he looked away. Cas sighed. He was pretty sure he knew what his friend was thinking. It had been coming up a lot recently, and given that Dean had never been one to give up his guilt without a solid fight, Cas imagined it wouldn’t be receding anytime soon.

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself,” Cas said, opening the car door and stepping out.

“Oh...clearly you don’t know me,” Dean snarked. “Hi, I’m Dean Winchester, World Class Screw-Up and I will kick my own ass for my mistakes every day until I die.” He sighed. “Again.”

Cas shook his head. “It’s unnecessary.”

“Yeah, well…” Dean never finished the sentence. He pulled up the bottom of his t-shirt and used it to wipe the sweat off of his face.

“I learned a lot on my own. Living as a human.” Cas watched Dean open the cooler and dig around. “It was difficult, of course, but...overall it wasn’t a bad experience. I feel as though I...really grew during that time. It gave me some confidence in my ability to survive here, whatever may come.”

Dean cracked open the bottle of water and took a huge swig. He swallowed, staring at his friend. “Bullshit. You were terrified.” He wiped a hand down his mouth. “And really pissed at me...like you should’a been.”

Cas stared at him. He opened his mouth to respond, but then just sighed. “Yeah...I was.”

“And fuckin’ exhausted...and hungry…” Dean slugged down another gulp of water. “I didn’t see it ‘til I looked at your wrist. You don’t lose that kinda weight eatin’ right and exercisin’. Not _that_ fast.”

“I survived.”

“Yeah, ya did. No thanks to us.”

“Dean…”

“It shoulda been me or Sam teachin’ you how to drive. We should’a gotten you a car, and decent clothes, and papers, so you could get a job, if you wanted one. You shouldn’t’ve needed one in the first place, ‘cause you should’a been workin’ with us, but if you’d wanted to go straight and get a steady job… You should’a been in an archive someplace, translatin’ dead languages or correcting history books. Not slingin’ hot dogs at a gas station for minimum wage. And I’m not knocking it. I’m not. Really. I was proud of ya. So was Sam. It’s just...you’re an angel! You can do so much shit nobody else can do, even when you’re not powered up.”

Cas grinned. “It was difficult enough getting that job - acquiring the appropriate paperwork and figuring out how to lie just the right way on the application. I imagine it would be quite a bit more complicated trying to convince scholars to allow me free reign in their archives.”

“Sam coulda gotten you set up with the right credentials. I guarantee it.”

“Sam...would not have been around to help me, Dean. I’m _glad_ you chose to protect him. I’d far prefer to have Sam, than to have had an easier few months as a human.”

Dean snorted and finished the bottle of water. He tossed it with the rest of the empties in the paper sack next to his toolbox and popped open the cooler. He grabbed a beer this time and twisted the cap. “Not sure Kevin would’ve wanted that same deal.”

“I am.” Cas said, without hesitation. Dean eyed him, irritated, and would have interrupted to argue, but he was trying to swallow the drink he’d just taken, and Cas didn’t give him the chance. “Kevin was a remarkably sensitive and intelligent young man who loved his family deeply. If the situation had been reversed and it were his mother’s life in the balance, I assure you he would have done anything to save her. He may have been angry with you, at first, but...he would have understood.”

“He wouldn’t’ve been ok with dyin’,” Dean grunted.

“You didn’t kill him.”

Dean opened his mouth to argue, but Cas cut him off again. “You had absolutely no way of knowing that would happen. You didn’t even realize that the angel occupying your brother was not Ezekiel. Nor could you have known that Gadreel was working with Metatron.”

“You would have known it wasn’t Zeke. You could have told me.”

“Yes. And Gadreel would have left or been expelled earlier. And Sam would likely have died.” Cas crossed his arms and looked down for a moment. “We seem to be repeating this same conversation from opposite perspectives with what I fear may be an unhealthy frequency.”

Dean snorted and swallowed another swig of his beer. “Ya think?”

Cas looked up and grinned at him. “I’d have expected one of us to figure out a viable rebuttal by now.”

“Maybe there isn’t one," Dean said. "Maybe...we just feel it ‘til...i dunno…” he leaned back against the front quarter panel, shifting his legs slightly until he was comfortable. “‘Til it just gets overlaid with other stuff...doesn’t feel as big anymore. Which just seems like a shitty way to deal with somethin’.” He paused for a moment, staring out across the field on the other side of the gravel road. Then he turned to look at his friend. “Ya know? How is that takin’ responsibility? Owning up to what you did? If you just...what...try not to look at it until it doesn’t hurt as much? Seems like a cop out.”

“And yet, constantly berating yourself for your past mistakes isn’t the answer. It only serves to cause pain in both yourself and those who love you.” Cas slowly moved to lean against the door of the car, next to Dean. He let his gaze drift across the field as well. A small flock of birds lifted off at that moment and both of them watched them in their synchronized flight as they made their way further into the distance. Cas let out a long, slow breath, sinking his weight further onto the door.

“I don’t have the answer, Dean,” he continued. “I wish I did. I can only tell you that I’ve forgiven you. Completely and without reservation. And that I trust you to always try to do the right thing.” He looked over at his friend, giving him a gentle, knowing smile. “I, um… I don’t have to wait until it’s the...bottom of the ninth. I’d choose you from the beginning.” His smile grew brighter. ‘Cursed or not.”

Dean held his gaze for only a couple of seconds before he had to turn away. It still amazed him how precisely Cas’s honesty could cut through him...far more effectively than any blade ever could. It hurt every time, no matter what he said, good or bad. This, of course, was no exception and Dean found himself at a loss for words.

He took the last swig of his beer, during the lull, letting the motion give at least one of his hands something to do. He’d suddenly felt the intense urge to fidget and needed to tamp it down.  Without a word, he leaned forward, rocking himself off of the car and stepping back over to the cooler. He quickly fished out two more beers before tossing his empty bottle into the trash bag. He popped the caps on both fresh bottles and handed one to Cas.

Dean sighed and looked at his friend. He opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped. After a long moment, he nodded. Then he raised is beer in a toast. Cas grinned and clinked his bottle against Dean’s, before they both took a swig.

The moment began to linger a second time and once again, Dean nodded. He turned on his heel and slowly made his way toward the front of the car. He called back over his shoulder.

“Start her up, Cas.”

 


End file.
